The Two-Way

2:52 pm

Mon April 21, 2014

U.S. Marshal Fatally Shoots Defendant In Utah Courtroom

Siale Angilau, 25, an accused street gang member, in a picture provided by the Utah Department of Corrections. Angilau was fatally shot in federal court in Salt Lake City by a U.S. marshal on Monday.

HANDOUTReuters/Landov

An alleged gang member appearing in court in Utah was shot dead by a U.S. marshal on Monday after he reportedly lunged at a witness.

Deseret News says 25-year-old Siale Angilau, aka "C-Down," was on trial in federal court in Salt Lake City when the fatal shooting took place.

"During the trial this morning, the defendant went after, engaged the witness stand, and when he engaged the witness at the witness stand, he was shot by the U.S. Marshals Service," Mark Dressen, the FBI's assistant special agent-in-charge for the Utah bureau, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

"From what I understand, the defendant may have grabbed a pen or a pencil and charged the witness stand at that time," he said.

The FBI said Angilau was shot several times in the chest in front of the jury that had been selected on Friday to hear the case.

Deseret News says:

"He was reportedly still breathing when he was taken away in an ambulance to a local hospital, but died in the early afternoon at a local hospital.

"Perry Cardwell and his daughter, Sarah Jacobsen, were inside the courtroom at the time of the shooting. They said a prison inmate, either a current or former gang member, was on the witness stand testifying about how he got into the gang lifestyle when Angilau attacked him.

" 'The witness was speaking about his gang life and how all that happened and came to be. And something must have upset the defendant and he just ran up and jumped over the witness stand to attack him,' Jacobsen said. 'It happened so fast that I'm not sure if he actually did get to attack him. But one of the servicemen was so fast with reflexes that he defended him.' "